Stefanus Varne
Stefanus Josephus Maria Varne (19 April 1853 – 24 June 1922) was a Brunanter Liberal Party politician and lawyer who served as the 14th President of Brunant from 1909 to his death in 1922, and previously served as the 1st & 3rd Prime Minister of Brunant from 1902 to 1904 and 1907 to 1908. He is one of the longest-serving politicians in Brunanter history, as his consecutive three-term period in the office of the presidency is the third longest in Brunanter history, with only James Carrington and Walter van der Ecke having longer terms in office. Varne was a firm believer in the welfare state, free trade, and the general improvement of social conditions. After winning a marginal victory over incumbent president Walter B. Adams in the 1909 presidential election, his administration helped introduced a comprehensive welfare system, established an income tax on the wealthy, established greater property protection for farmers in Brunant, and also sending soldiers frontlines of Belgium during World War I, significantly increasing his popularity. However, he also failed to introduce proper veteran care, faced a major post-war economic slump and by 1920, the national deficit was at its highest in Brunanter history and was rapidly increasing yearly. Despite this, Varne once again achieved victory in the 1921 presidential election and established a greater income tax to combat the deficit and introduced a mininum wage bill in Congress that was eventually passed in 1926, but he abruptly died in 1922, only seven months into his third term. He was succeeded by Johan Meier of the White Party. Biography Early life Stefanus Josephus Maria Varne was born on 19 April 1853 in Dortmund, the fourth son and youngest of nine children born to Alexander Varne (1807–1866) and his wife Caroline Meijer (1814–1882). Alexander Varne was a moderately successful local attorney in Dortmund who primarily represented major manufacturing and textile companies against their former employers, while his mother was the daughter of prominent Dutch-Jewish doctor Abraham Meijer, who had emigrated to Brunant from the southern Netherlands in the early 1800s. Alexander briefly entered politics when he was elected as a member of the Dortmund City Council in 1861 and served two consecutive terms in the council before his death in 1866. Stefanus was taken into the care of his paternal uncle, Lodewijk, in Koningstad in 1867 after the death of his father. He attended various local schools in the town until he finally graduated from the local secondary school in 1871. He then began to study law at the Royal University of Koningstad, where he became interested in student politics. He was elected as president of the university's student union in 1873, and was described by one of his professors as being "remarkably smart, decisive, and willful in his endeavor for greater learning." He graduated in 1874 with a Juris Doctor in law and as class valedictorian, and was admitted to the bar in 1876. He formed a law firm along with his elder brother Martinus in 1878 named S. & M. Varne & Co. Stefanus served in the firm for eight years, primarily serving as an attorney for major business corporations in Brunant. One of the most noteworthy cases in his law career was when he represented the Indian Cigars and Cigarette Company against rival company, the Supreme Cigar Company over copyright and libel disputes. Mayor of Koningstad Varne eventually left him and his brother's law firm in 1881 after a severe lack of clients forced them to declare bankruptcy in 1880. He instead decided to enter politics and was successfully elected into the Koningstad City Council in February 1881. In the 1881 mayoral election, he decided to run as a left-leaning independent candidate. Despite his attempts at campaigning across the city and gaining the support of multiple local corporations and small businesses he lost in a major landslide to incumbent mayor Arthur Sullivan Jr., only recieving 28% of the total vote. After the election, he continued to serve on the city's council and served as the city's Minister of Finance from 1882 to 1884. He once again attempted to run in the 1885 mayoral election as an independent, but this time he successfully won against the incumbent with 48% of the vote and was sworn in as the 23rd Mayor of Koningstad on 4 September 1885 outside of the Koningstad City Hall. During his first term, he primarily aimed to cut down on city's deficit and establish a proper education and welfare system within the city. He dramatically cut the city's spending on its police force in half, and established a greater tax on large corporations headquartered in the city. This caused multiple local corporations to re-build their headquarters outside of the city, which in the long run proved to be extremely detrimental to Koningstad's overall economy and employment rate within its industrial districts. This also caused Varne to suffer a major penalty in his approval rating early on into his first term, with it plummeting from 52% at his inaguration to a record low of 23% by the middle of his first term. Despite these major cuts, it temporarily was able to boost Koningstad's overall economy and Varne was able to use the city's extra income to establish a proper city-wide education system in 1886, a comprehensive welfare and social security system in 1887 and 1888, and greater funding to previously neglected infrastructure within the city's industrial core. He also officially joined the Liberal Party shortly before the 1889 mayoral election in order to increase the voter output from members of the party in the city. He easily won re-election in 1889, recieving more than 60% of the total vote. In his second and final term as Mayor, Varne re-funded and reformed the largely neglected city police force following a major budget surplus in early 1890 and formed the Koningstad Police Force in 1891, merging a majority of the city's various private policing organizations into one city-funded law enforcement agency. He also introduced the first electric lampposts in the downtown quarter of the city in 1892 in order to provide more security at night, which significantly impacted the crime rate of Koningstad, almost halving it. He did not seek re-election in 1893 and instead served as a political advisor within the city's police force for almost four years after his term ended. Senate Following the retirement of Liberal Cape Cross Senator Lodewijk Marten in 1897, Varne was encouraged by his brother to run for the vacant seat. He won over his White Party opponent by a large margin due to his extremely successful campaign, and served as a Senator for five years. He bitterly opposed the conservative reforms of President Pieter Van Neyt and became well known amongst his constituents as a "fierce fighter for the common man and the yeoman farmer." His noteworthy performance as a Senator would later prove to be extremely beneficial to his political career. Prime Ministry Category:Politicians Category:Presidents Category:Prime Ministers Category:Dead people Category:1853 births Category:Mayors Category:Royal University of Koningstad alumni Category:Lawyers Category:Liberal Party